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systole and diastole
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Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry
A Study of Poetry
4:043 Dickinson, Emily: A Life of Letters, This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to me; I'll tell you how the Sun Rose/A Ribbon at a time; Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul
Famous Poets and Poetic Form
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) only confirmed photograph of Emily Dickinson. 1978 scan of a Daguerreotype. ca. 1847; in the Amherst College Archives. American poet. See Notes:
Poetry: First Lines
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systole and diastole

prosody
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History

systole and diastole, in prosody, systole is the shortening of a syllable that is by pronunciation or by position long. Systole is most often used to adjust the rhythm of a line to achieve metrical regularity. The word is from the Greek systolḗ, meaning, literally, “contraction.”

Diastole, the opposite of systole, is the lengthening of a short quantity or syllable for metric irregularity. The word is from the Greek diastolḗ, meaning “the act of expanding or dilating.”